Samsung profit and sales miss estimates on technology slowdown

Semiconductors now account for more than three-quarters of Samsung's total profit, compared with the first quarter of 2013 when its phone business represented nearly three-quarters of profit. Both LG and Samsung will disclose detailed earnings later this month.

Sales dropped more than 10 percent to 59 trillion won in the period, Samsung said.

Analysts said likely causes included profit margins for its high-end TVs being thinned by increasing competition, while the firm's smartphone business continues to lose money.

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday flagged its first quarterly profit drop in two years, painting a grim outlook amid mounting competition from Chinese smartphone makers and declining chip prices.

Samsung make memory and processor chips for companies including Apple and Huawei phones with these sales accounting for close to 40 percent of their overall sales.

While Samsung still leads the world in smartphone sales, it's being squeezed by Chinese handset makers like Huawei Technologies Co.

"You see, Apple's iPhones are already losing sales in China".

The South Korean chipmaker said there's weak global demand for its products amid a global economic slowdown that's being driven, in part, by a almost year-long trade war between the US and China.

The announcement comes on the heels of Apple's earnings warning - its first since 2002 - in which CEO Tim Cook said in a letter to investors that the iPhone maker expects first-quarter revenue of about $84 billion, down from the previous guidance of between $89 billion and $93 billion.

DRAMeXchange anticipates memory chip prices to fall 10 percent on an average in the first quarter of 2019.